Conventional circuits are known to operate in the lower frequency domains, i.e., the RF and lower frequency ranges. The conventional circuits have well understood and identified circuit elements. Such circuit elements can include those that are much smaller than the wavelength of operation, resulting in the application of circuit theory that is the “approximation” to the Maxwell equations in the limit of such small sizes.
It should be pointed out that a mere scaling of the circuit component concepts conventionally used in the RF and lower frequencies may not work at frequencies beyond the far infrared. The conventional circuits in the RF and lower frequencies rely on the conduction current circulating in metallic wires along the lumped elements. However, the metallic materials cannot be straightforwardly scaled down to the infrared and optical frequencies because at this size the conducting metallic materials behave quite differently.
Accordingly, there still remains a need for circuits and circuit elements that function in the optical and infrared regime. Furthermore, there is a need for products that utilize such optical circuits and circuit elements, including, for example, biological circuits, nano-optics, optical information storage, biophotonics, and molecular signaling.